The present invention relates to modular plug-in electrical devices for metering, relaying and controlling an electrical power source.
The monitoring and controlling of a power source and support wiring is vital to the integrity of an electrical subsystem. In civilian transportation control systems, such as air traffic controllers, backup and monitoring systems sources are necessary to prevent system failure which could result in the catastrophic loss of life. To protect against system failure, the main power sources are typically backed up by local DC power sources. During operation, the backup DC power sources are monitored to ensure system reliability as well as to allow metering. The DC power storage cells include a "floating" voltage to indicate an excessively low or high voltage which could represent a problem in the local power storage charging unit as well as positive and negative pole grounding.
Such monitoring and control equipment is usually "hard-wired" to the power sources and associated wiring which incurs a large cost and limits the portability of the equipment. Accordingly, it would be desirable to employ a low-cost removable unit for the monitoring and control of the power source.
An effective modular device for connecting circuit breakers and disconnect switches to a common power panel enclosure is described in U.S. Pat. No. 4,752,233 to Morby et al. entitled "Electric Power Panelboard Adapter Module". The adapter module includes a plastic base member through which multiple contact stabs extend for plugging onto individual bus bars of a multi- phase power system. The opposite ends of the stabs connect with the line terminals of circuit breakers and disconnect switches.
One purpose of the invention is to adapt a circuit breaker and disconnect switch adapter module to allow the removable interconnection of power control and monitoring equipment.